The Supreme Court dismissed the plea filed by expelled AIADMK leader and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister O Panneerselvam (OPS) against the notice issued to him and his relatives in the suo moto revision petition taken by the Madras High Court in the disproportionate asset case. On Friday, March 1, an SC bench headed by Justice Hrishikesh Roy refused to interfere with the Madras High Court’s order taking up the revision petition after OPS was set free in the case by a trial court in 2012.
However, the bench, also comprising Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra, clarified that the observations contained in the impugned order of the High Court issuing notice will have no bearing on the outcome of the revision petition.
Justice Anand Venkatesh of the High Court in August last year had observed that Tamil's Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) files cases against opposition leaders, only to open a re-investigation and close the file when they later come to power. He added that this was a practice that was unheard off in the criminal judicial system. Justice Venkatesh said that he took up the case suo moto because the courts look differently at ordinary people, and at MPs, MLAs, and ministers.
O Panneerselvam was booked in 2006 under the Prevention of Corruption Act, on allegations that he amassed wealth during his tenure as the AIADMK revenue minister between 2001 and 2006. In 2012, a Sivaganga court had acquitted him.
The judge has also initiated suo motu revisions against current DMK ministers KKSSR Ramachandran and Thangam Thennarasu, and former AIADMK minister B Valarmathi.